#pilcher

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Jeff Gothelf: Forever Employable: How to Stop Looking for Work and Let Your Next Job Find You

Value for money

3/10

Year, Price, Pages, Cover design

2020 by Gothelf Corp; EUR 16,53; 91 pages; Paperback

Cover design by David Miles, Interior design and typesetting by Jennifer Blais, Author photograph by Dailon Weiss, Very good paper quality and exquisite reading experience

5 sentences about the book

Jeff Gothelf tells his story of how he became forever employable: from the director of UX department in an American company to the successful author of the book Lean UX and public speaker. This approach is beneficial to the reader because the author is revealing his personal experience, his successes and fails. There is also the flip side of the coin. There is no guarantee that you will hit the lottery as Gothelf did. Moreover, you may not be the type of person who is willing to step into the spotlight. I refused to read this book as a recipe on how to become a public speaker. I enjoyed the parts where the author is describing his existential crossroads and general thoughts (“no one else has your story”).

What did I learn?

Would you start a business as a public speaker or consultant? If yes, this book is for you! (author’s experience, tip & tricks, toolkit, etc. ∞)

Under the hood of public speaking: I got an overview of how tough and demanding work it is.

“no one else has your story” — I started using my own previous experience as an advantage and I intentionally connected my past experience with current product management work.

Reading this book I realized that it is not my path. Forever employable is like forever busy: “I’ve stayed active and I’ve engaged in the conversation on the latest tools, the latest challenges, the latest topics of discussion, and the latest design trends.” (80) The “latest” does not mean the “most valuable”. Bearing in mind the limiting amount of time that we have on earth, I would like to have a choice and I don’t want to be forced to focus on last trends.

For the rest of us, who do not plan to become public speakers or consultants, I would like to recommend in this context a book Business Model You: A One-Page Method For Reinventing Your Career by Tim Clark, Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur.

What was missing?

The book title (and especially subtitle) could be (intentionally?) misleading (There is a fragment on page 72, the author describes strategy how to title articles, I would call this slightly unethical). There is minor content for those of us who are not thinking about starting a business as a public speaker or consultant.

The author intends to provide quick recipes (89) on how to become a public speaker. Personally, I do not like this conference tourism and circus that create unnecessary noise and false illusion of value (“Every discipline in the world has conference, and there are thousands of them every year” 66 — yes, I am talking exactly about this noise…)

Unnecessary reference to dubious “authorities” like Gary Vaynerchuk (23)

Favourite quotes

“You might think you don’t have a story to tell, or at least nothing unique. Not true. Your experiences are unique, even in a crowded profession. Most important, no one else has your story.” 15

“Becoming forever employable and future-proofing your career doesn’t mean abandoning the things that have made you successful up to this point. In fact, quite the contrary. Your experience and expertise — both professional and personal — are exactly where you should be looking (and mining) to determine the flag you’re going to plant. So, instead of throwing away your experience, build on it.” 19

“The key to becoming forever employable is to shift your perspective on what you’re able to do with your existing body of knowledge and some additional effort on your part” 78

Roman Pichler: How to Lead in Product Management: Practices to Align Stakeholders, Guide Development Teams, and Create Value Together

Value for money

6/10

Year, Price, Pages, Cover design

2020 by Pichler Consulting; EUR 24,10; 158 pages; Paperback

Cover design by Ole H. Størksen. Cover image neutral. Good quality paper.

5 sentences about the book

While reading, I felt like the book consists of two parts. The content of the first part (how to set up goals and interactions with Scrum master, Development team or Stakeholders) you have already met in Pilchner’s previous books (Strategize, Agile Product Management with Scrum). I really enjoyed the second part, Conversations (listening and speaking), Conflict, Decision-Making and Negotiation and Self-leadership. Referring to his predecessors like Covey, Sofer, Lencioni, Rosenberg — Pilcher brings these topics to the product management context and boils it all down to the essence. Practical examples of how to react in particular situations will guide in the day-to-day.

What did I learn?

“Listen and speak” practical pieces of advice. The author reminds me again how important active listening is and how difficult it is to learn. Speaking is also a trick-thing, I’ve learnt the flipping and framing technique (77)

A handy summary of conversation techniques (83)

Structured brainstorming — practical guide on how to take the decision-making process in the group (126)

Tips for negotiating successfully — A case study “Sophie, Head of Sales” — the author explains very well, that negotiation is not manipulation. A very practical guide on how to work with the tough manager in a corporate environment and create a culture of trust and understanding

As the main benefit, I consider the last chapter about Self-leadership and mindfulness. I will give meditation a second chance.

What was missing?

Content from chapters “Goals” and “Interaction” duplicates from previous Pichler’s books

Pilcher’s writing is at a dead end now: how to write the next books and do not steal the content of the previous ones? How to deliver value without giving the reader a feeling that he is not paying for the same content twice?

Favourite quotes

“When I am not mindful, not aware of my mental state, I get lost in the experience.” 142

“Mindfulness, therefore, is not about suppressing or getting rid of thoughts and feelings, particularly unpleasant one like envy, anger, fear, or doubt. It is not about reaching blissful or special mental states, judging or fixing things, or being super productive and amazingly successful. It simply means paying attention to what’s happening in our inner world so that we become more aware of our feelings and thoughts.” 142

“In whatever way the week unfolded, honestly reflect on what happened, how you felt, and what you can learn from it.” 145